April 9 - Great Blue Heron vs. gulls

Did not get out of the apartment today so the only birding I did was from the window. I did pick up one new bird for the month. Around 1:40 pm I spotted a Great Blue Heron flying over the ship canal off Muscota Marsh. It was pursued by several gulls including a Great Black-backed Gull. It landed in water too deep for it to stand up in and then I could see it was carrying a very large fish. This was why the gulls were chasing it. After swimming in the water briefly it took off again still carrying its fish and still pursued by a coupe of gulls. The gulls forced it down in the water another couple of times, but it still held onto the fish. Finally the heron got out of the water and started flying north towards the other shore still being harassed by the gulls. It hadn't gone far, however, before it lost its struggle to hang onto the fish. It dropped the fish and though a great Black-backed Gull immediately dropped into the water after the fish, the fish must have still been alive because it apparently got away. At least the gull did not catch it.

The total bird list for the window today was 17 species. My best day so far this month. This brings my April total for Inwood to 42 species with 25 seen from the apartment. Today's apartment list is below.

Canada Goose
Mallard
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Blue Jay
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
House Sparrow

April 8 - Birding Inwood Hill Park plus a window bird.

About 9:45 in the morning I picked up a year bird from my apartment window when I spotted an Osprey going east over the shipping canal. During the course of the day I recorded a total of 15 species from the apartment. In the afternoon I went for a walk up through the Clove in Inwood Hill Park and along the ridge. I picked up another three new birds on the walk: Fish Crow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Brown-headed Cowbird. Two days ago I encountered my first Northern Flicker of the spring in the park. Today they seemed to be all over the park, rapping on trees and calling loudly. It was also only two days ago that I had my first Chipping Sparrow on the edge of the soccer fields. Today there were numbers of them on the field.

Up on the ridge, I encountered the following sign of the times.

I encountered a number of runners in the park. While most were keeping their distance from each other and other park goers (except for a few pairs who were obviously running together), I would say much less than half of them were wearing masks. I can understand that it must be uncomfortable running wearing a mask, but it would seem that a runner is probably breeding harder than a walker and expelling their breath more forcefully. I think they really are being thoughtless.

Back to birds. For the day, I recorded 28 species, I found 27 species on my park walk and the Osprey from the window in the morning added one. The total from the apartment for the day was 16. The complete day list is below with birds seen from the apartment birds indicated. This brings my total for the month to 41 species with 24 being seen from the apartment.

Canada Goose (apt.)
Mallard (apt.)
Double-crested Cormorant (apt.)
Great Egret (apt.)
Osprey (apt. only)
Ring-billed Gull (apt.)
Herring Gull (apt.)
Rock Pigeon (apt.)
Mourning Dove (apt.)
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay (apt.)
Fish Crow
Carolina Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
American Robin (apt.)
Northern Mockingbird (apt.)
European Starling (apt.)
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal (apt.)
Red-winged Blackbird (apt.)
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Sparrow (apt.)

April 7 - Window birding only

A beautiful day outside, but it was a work inside day. Nevertheless, I did get some window birding in and added one bird to my April Inwood list and a second bird to my April window list. The new bird was nothing special, a Red-tailed Hawk. Back in March it seemed as if I would see a Red-tail almost daily from the window, but Since April 1st I am been missing it every day. Finally saw one this afternoon. Also this afternoon there was a flicker in the trees across 218th Street. I had a couple on my walk in the woods yesterday, but this added to the month's window list. The total list of 14 species recorded from the apartment is below.

The total numbers for the month so far are now 38 species in Inwood and 23 from the apartment.

Canada Goose
Red-tailed Hawk
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
House Sparrow

April 6 - Inwood Hill Park

Ann and I did a foray into Inwood Hill Park in the mid-afternoon. It was a beautiful day with bright blue skies and hardly a cloud to be seen. Pretty much everyone we encountered was practicing social distancing and most were wearing face masks.

I recorded 27 species including six that were new for my April list. The six new ones are in italics in the list below. This brings my current April list up to 37 species. I also encountered a Spring Azure butterfly that I managed to get a relatively poor picture of.

Great Egret
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove

Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Hermit Thrush

American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Pine Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
House Sparrow

April 5 - Window birding again

There was no precipitation today, but other than that the weather was all over the map. It was mostly blue skies and sunny at sun-up only to get cloudy later. It was at time a little breezy and overcast most of the day and then it started to clear off again toward sunset. The only birding I did was from the window. Recorded fourteen species with American Crow being new for the apartment list for the month and Northern Rough-winged Swallow new for the year. My window list for the day is at the end of this post. For April so far my Inwood list is 31 and my apartment list 21.

Though I didn't get in to Inwood Hill Park, I did see reports from Nadir Souirgi that he saw Wilson's Snipe, Tree Swallow, and Palm Warbler in the park today.

Canada Goose
Double-crested Cormorant
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Blue Jay
American Crow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
House Sparrow

April 4 - On and off window birding.

The weather was much nicer today, but it was nevertheless an indoor day. After breakfast I spent part of the morning cleaning windows. Exciting! Well, not really. However, it should improve my birding in the upcoming days. The rest of the day was spent on the phone and doing desk work. I did manage to see some birds from the newly cleaned windows. In fact the total of fifteen for the day was slightly higher than in recent days and added one species to the apartment list that I started on April 1st - Common Grackle. This brings my apartment list to 19 and my April Inwood list to thirty. Today's list follows.

Canada Goose
Mallard
Double-crested Cormorant
Ring-billed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Blue Jay
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
House Sparrow

April 3 - Wet day's window birding.

It was a relatively wet and blustery day. The kind of day it was good to be indoors looking out. Despite the weather I did record thirteen species from my apartment window (below).

Canada Goose
Mallard
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Blue Jay
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Red-winged Blackbird
House Sparrow

The Mallard, Double-crested Cormorant, and the Mourning Dove were all new to my apartment list for the month, bringing my apartment list to 18 for the first three days of the month. My overall Inwood Park list for the month rose to 29.

It was the kind of day, that on my Central Park bird walks, we would end up discussing old movies, or books, or whatever, since there weren't many birds to see. In that spirit I thought I would mention a couple of books that seem appropriate to the current times. The first is the book I am currently reading and its title will let you know why I find it appropriate: The Fever of 1721: The Epidemic That Revolutionized Medicine and American Politics by Stephen Coss. It was published in 2016 by Simon & Schuster. It is a nonfiction book that concerns a major smallpox epidemic that hit Boston in, yes, 1721. Some of the major figures are the preacher Cotton Mather (yes, the minister involved in the infamous Salem Witch trials of 1692/93), a Dr. Zabdiel Boylston (whose family name is on one of Boston's major streets), a teenage Benjamin Franklin and his older brother James, and Samuel Adams, Sr. among others. It involves Dr. Boylston's attempt to save his patients through the use of a controversial technique of smallpox inoculation (this is nearly eighty years before Edward Jenner's invention of the smallpox vaccine which would eventually lead to the eradication of smallpox, a far more deadly disease than the COVID pandemic we are currently living through. Also part of the story is the publication of America's first independent newspaper, published by James Franklin. In this instance, Cotton Mather is not the villain he was at Salem. For those of you with New York Public Library privileges, the book is available as an audio book.

The second book I want to mention (and recommend) has nothing to do with epidemics or any diseases. It is Curse of the Narrows by Laura M. Mac Donald (2005, Walker & Co.). Like the above book this is a work of nonfiction. It is the account of the explosion of a World War I munitions ship in the harbor in Halifax, Nova Scotia on December 6, 1917. It was the largest man-made explosion in the world until the atomic bomb in World War II. The explosion and tsunami it created devastated the harbor and much of Halifax. As if that was not enough, that evening a huge blizzard hit the Maritimes cutting off a relief train sent from Boston. (I was reminded of it while reading the Fever book because Boston is so involved in it). The book is a chronicle of disaster and great heroism. I read it a number of years ago, but Ann and I still have it on our bookshelves. The efforts of those coming to the aid of stricken Halifax can only be called inspiring, something we can all look to at the moment. Over a hundred years later Halifax still sends Boston the city’s Christmas tree in recognition of Boston's aid in 1917. The NY Public Library has Curse of the Narrows as an ebook.

April 2 - Social distance birding in Inwood Hill Park

Went birding in Inwood Hill Park this morning with Danny Karlson. In this new world we are now living in it was my first time practicing "social distance" birding. Danny and I maintained a minimum six foot separation at all times. Beforehand I hadn't really thought of it as being much of a problem. However, when you are birding with others and one person spots a bird, the normal routine has always been for the second person to move over to the spotter so as to get the same angle on the bird the original spotter has on it. This can be a problem in the new "social birding" routine. But one quickly learns to adapt.

The birding actually started even before I left my apartment. I was putting on my jacket when Danny texted that he had arrived. As I looked out the window and saw him on the boardwalk overlooking Muscota Marsh, I heard a Common Raven overhead. Danny spotted it flying south over my apartment building. Interestingly, this was about the same time (approximately 8:30 am) a Common Raven flew over yesterday morning. Perhaps it is developing a routine?

I joined Danny down on the deck overlooking Muscota Marsh. I was sporting the latest in fashionable birding gear.

It was cool and blustery and at that point mostly cloudy. The soccer fields were pretty quiet. In the Clove White-throated Sparrows were fairly common and could be heard singing all around. A lone junco was near the top of the trail. The ridge was quieter than I had hoped and the cold wind discouraged any lingering on the overlook looking at the Hudson and across to the Palisades. A female Downy Woodpecker was cooperative, feeding on a small fallen log.

Finally, Danny spotted an Eastern Phoebe, a first of the year for both of us, though I had heard reports of them for a while. We soon saw one or two other phoebes. Near the first phoebe there was a bright male Pine Warbler high in a tree, another first of the year.

On the way back down through the Clove we finally spotted some Dutchman's-Breeches wildflowers in bloom. We had looked for them on the way up and somehow missed them, but now saw some right off the trail.

In about two and a half hours in the park we had twenty-six species (listed below).

Canada Goose
Mallard
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Pine Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
House Sparrow

April 1 - Birding in the time of COVID-19

This should have been the first day of my spring Central Park bird walks for the AMNH. Instead, I am birding from my window at home. I haven't been very active on my blog in the last year, but I am going to pick it up again since, like many of you I now have quite a bit more time on my hands. I plan to post regularly on what I am seeing from my window overlooking the north end of Inwood Hill Park in northern Manhattan. I will also be getting out into the park when I can so I will post what I see there.

A number of AMNH people have had a friendly competition in recent migration seasons to see who could find the most species in Central Park. Obviously, we are not doing that this year. Instead we are all birding from wherever the pandemic has stranded us - most of us will be birding from our homes and/or local parks. Today I started my spring window list. I recorded 13 species. Most of them are totally expected birds, but there was one really good one. This morning a Common raven flew over croaking! Great Egret returned last Saturday and I have been seeing one every day since. The robins are calling from the trees across West 218th Street every night starting around 4:00 am, however, one seems to be interested in building a nest in a tree right outside my bedroom window.

The day's apartment list is below.

Stay safe everyone!

Canada Goose
Great Egret
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Blue Jay
Common Raven
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
House Sparrow

June 10 - Bridled Tern comes back to Great Gull Island

For the fourth summer in a row a Bridled Tern has appeared on Great Gull Island. I first spotted it two days ago on June 8. It is frequenting the same area of the island as the last two summers. Here is a picture taken today.

Bridled Tern 06/10/2019 Great Gull Island

 The island is a closed research facility so people cannot land, but last summer a number of birders did look for and see the bird from small boats offshore. Below is a map of the island indicating in red where the bird usually hangs out. Obviously the bird has to go off to feed at time, but I do not know what its schedule for that is.

Bridled Tern frequents the area marked in red on northeast corner of Great Gull Island.